“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” - George W. Bush

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Trump's Absurd Proposition to Revamp US Nuclear Capability

Technology suffers from a momentary illusion called "State of the Art".

"State of the Art" is a momentary assertion of technological superiority with an implied assumption of some permanence. In the area of advanced weaponry it tempts the owner with a feeling of superiority and provokes a default position of hubris.

Trump is making an error in believing he can build a superior lasting nuclear advantage. It is a foolish bet and a terrible risk. One needs to look to our own experience on two historical events to appreciate Trump's folly in this claim.

All new technology comes with high risk. Take the US shuttle program.

NASA's official overall probability risk assessment number (PRAN) for
complete loss of life and vehicle for the Space Shuttle was widely quoted at 1/100. In practice we lost two out of 131 missions. We have no idea on how capable nuclear missile and anti-missile systems would work as we have thankfully never known or practiced them under real world conditions. They may or may not work to a degree unknown but worse yet, we know there will be failures and those failures would come with terrible consequences.

How bad would be the consequences? We can only speculate but let's go to an event we do know about, 911.

Two commercial airplanes with the explosive power of high speed kerosene containers took down two buildings in one city. The property and economic damage was in the hundreds of billions and immediate death and casualties were in the thousands. Following wars ran the cost of 911 into the trillions and deaths in the millions. What would be the consequences of hundreds of cities being hit with nuclear weapons taking taking out ten thousand buildings in each city?

The United States has made itself vulnerable to nuclear weapons because by it having nuclear weapons, others have followed. Even shit-ass backward countries like North Korea and Pakistan have them. Increasing and "improving" nuclear weapons will only result in others following suit and the risks would increase for all of us with security improving for none of us.

Trump Vows to Keep Getting Nukes Until World 'Comes to Its Senses'by Jason Ditz, December 22, 2016

The two largest nuclear powers on the planet, the United States and Russia have enough nuclear weapons to effectively end human civilization. Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump both agree that’s not nearly enough.

Putin presented the effort as a need to adapt to changes in the world, and to ensure that Russia retains the ability to “neutralize threats” and can reliably penetrate future missile defense systems with their massive nuclear arsenal.

Trump’s comments were a lot less specific, saying that the US needs to “greatly strengthen and expand” their nuclear weapons capability, adding that he’d just keep expanding the American arsenal “until the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”

The New START Treaty intends to limit the number of nuclear weapons both the US and Russia are deploying at any given time, and with both Russia and the US are currently on track to meet the goals of that treaty, it doesn’t seem to be the general trend in the future.

Estimates on the cost of the US “modernization” scheme for its nuclear arsenal are that it will be in excess of $1 trillion. These figures have steadily risen in recent years, and doesn’t factor in the “expansion” of arsenal Trump is talking about on top of the modernization.

US hawks have argued that the massive arsenal they already have been sitting on for decades is old and therefore some of the bombs might not work, though given the nature of a full-scale nuclear war and arsenals capable of wiping out the species several times over, being down to 80% or 90% of the warheads detonating doesn’t realistically change the result.

Still, both nations virtually bankrupted themselves during the Cold War building these huge caches of weapons, and the massive amount of money being thrown around on such projects is the sort of thing officials salivate about, meaning practical needs ends up beside the point.

The differences don't end there. Reagan also offered a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, often turned down his advisors' calls for military action from Panama to the Middle East, fearing collateral damage to civilians, and signed a treaty meant to eliminate torture.

It was a time when a principled hard-core conservative could see shades of gray, learn new things on the job, and cultivate the "art of the deal" with opposition leaders like the Democrats' Tip O'Neill. A time that seems quaint in a world where Trump's Twitter thumbs will soon be on the nuclear button.

For someone who considers himself the "Merry Christmas president," Donald Trump has a lot to learn about peace on earth and goodwill toward humankind.

The U.S. Marine Corps is progressing with a new project to arm its MV-22 Osprey aircraft with new weapons such as laser-guided 2.75in rockets, missiles and heavy guns - a move which would expand the tiltrotor's mission set beyond supply, weapons and forces transport to include a wider range of offensive and defensive combat missions, Corps officials said.

...

The Marine Corps is in the early stages of planning to build a new, high-tech MV-22C variant Osprey tiltrotor aircraft to enter service by the mid-2030s, service officials said.

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The Corps is also developing technology to better network Osprey aircraft through an effort called “Digital Interoperability,” or DI. This networks Osprey crews such that Marines riding in the back can have access to relevant tactical and strategic information while in route to a destination.

The Brooklyn lawyer who was tossed off a JetBlue flight at New York's JFK Airport for verbally attacking Ivanka Trump Thursday morning quickly rushed out of San Francisco airport silently dodging news crews awaiting his arrival.

Attorney Dan Goldstein, left, and his husband, Matthew Lasner and their toddler were filmed being escorted by security through the San Francisco International Airport when they arrived after JetBlue removed them from the plane wherev the mother-of-three was on with her family.

Goldstein accosted the famous family and made comments about Ivanka and the President-elect, pictured right, Ivanka during the incident. The Hillary supporter, who had his child in his arms, told Ivanka, 'Your father is ruining the country.'

He then apparently began screaming out: 'Why is she on our flight. She should be flying private.' Once Ivanka's flight landed in San Francisco in the afternoon, to prevent any further incident, she and her family were rushed off the plane first by Secret Service and into SUVs that drove them to a nearby private jet bound for Hawaii, center.

A suspected perpetrator behind the Berlin Christmas market attack was killed during a shootout in Milan, Italy, Reuters reports, citing a security source.

The Italian interior minister will hold a news conference in Rome at 09:45 GMT, Reuters said, citing the ministry.09:19 GMT

A man whose appearance matches the description of the suspected perpetrator behind the Berlin Christmas market attack has been spotted in the city of Aalborg in northern Denmark, local police tweeted. According to police, the man, aged between 20 and 30, was “wearing a black hat, glasses, black beard and was unshaven.”

Police have warned people to keep away from the area where he was spotted.

22 December 201620:02 GMT

Anis Amri, who is suspected of carrying out the truck attack in Berlin, initially planned to travel to Syria and join Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) there, Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily reported, adding that he also underwent training in Germany alongside other extremists.17:33 GMT

Investigators believe that Tunisian suspect Anis Amri was indeed behind the wheel of the truck that plowed into the Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, a spokesperson from the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office told journalists, adding that an arrest warrant has officially been issued against him.

Earlier, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said during a joint press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel that fingerprints and other “new evidence” made it “highly probable” that Amri was the perpetrator of Monday’s attack.

Anis Amri, the suspect behind Monday night’s terror attack in Berlin, has been killed in a police shootout in Milan, according to an unconfirmed report by Panorama, an Italian news magazine. Panorama claimed in an exclusive report this morning that Amri was killed in a routine traffic stop at 3am today in the Piazza I Maggio in the Sesto San Giovanni neighborhood. The report was not immediately confirmed by the Italian government or any law enforcement officials.

Panorama reported that Amri pulled out a gun and began shooting at the officers. It said that an officer who had been on the job for nine months then killed the suspect. The officer was shot in the shoulder but is alive. Italy’s top law enforcement official, the interior minister, Marco Minniti, is due to address the press at 10:45 am (9.45am GMT). Amri was believed to have spent several years in Italy before he traveled to Germany.T here were separately reports of a shootout in Milan in several Italian newspapers.

The recent surge of migration into Europe has been unprecedented in scope, with an estimated 1 million migrants from the Middle East and North Africa this past year alone, making for a massive humanitarian crisis…that they could radically change the gender balance in European countries in certain age cohorts…

…But the result is that 66.26 percent of adult migrants registered through Italy and Greece over the past year were male, according to the International Organization of Migration.That imbalance might not sound radical, but it is, especially when you look more closely at who those males are. It’s true that many male migrants hope that, if granted asylum, they will be joined in Europe by their wives and children, who would help balance out national sex ratios. But importantly, more than 20 percent of migrants are minors below the age of 18, and the IOM estimates that more than half of those minors traveling to Europe are traveling as unaccompanied minors—90 percent of whom are males. This heavily male subset is all but guaranteed asylum because of their status as unaccompanied minors, but they get no special dispensation to bring spouses, especially since the European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that European Union countries are not required to recognize the legality of child marriages among migrants.

To see how these overall figures affect specific countries—and why there is reason for concern—consider the case of Sweden, which has been especially transparent about its migration statistics and whose ratios mirror the broader trend in Europe in many respects.According to Swedish government statistics, as of the end of November, 71 percent of all applicants for asylum to Sweden in 2015 were male. More than 21 percent of all migrants to Sweden were classified as unaccompanied minors, representing more than half of all minor migrants to the country. For accompanied minors, the sex ratio was about 1.16 boys for every one girl. But for unaccompanied minors, the ratio was 11.3 boys for every one girl…

Europe creates many of its own problems. Others have argued that they don’t allow more women in because they fear the higher immigrant birthrate. To prevent one problem, they create another.

I think we will hear Mr. Trump say a lot of things for effect. What's wrong with the world thinking we are arming up? Whether we do or dont? Besides it's fun to watch the snowflakes (like the queer couple on the plane) squirm.

Mome could be right. As some of the Trump apologists had argued today, he was merely talking for effect. He often says things for effect or for 'humor' or for whatever. For instance, when he asked to Russians to find Hillary's lost e-mails and later said he was just kidding.

I believe him on the e-mails less so on the arms race.

I don't find this characteristic all that endearing, not in a president. He acts like trunk uncle Ted at the Christmas party.

What I find especially troubling is that he is acting as president now, setting foreign policy, while he is merely president elect and there is an actual president still in office.

Later, Trump read an extremely gracious letter he received from Putin congratulating him on the election victory and expressing wishes the US and Russia could work closer together. Trump replied with a statement that said Putin's letter was 'very nice' but ended with what to my mind was an implied threat.

WEST WYOMING — A sow bear and her three cubs found in a church parking lot earlier this month likely died from consuming a poisonous plant.

Game commission officials said the bears ate the leaves and seeds of an English yew plant before their death. All species of yew contain the alkaloid compound taxine that is “highly toxic to most animals and humans if ingested,” officials said. Yew seeds contain the highest concentration levels of the toxin, and the plant’s toxin levels increase during winter months.

“This is the first case of black bear deaths attributable to yew intoxication that I have heard of,” said Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife veterinarian Justin Brown.

The four bears were found dead near the parking lot of St. Monica’s church on Tuesday, Dec. 6. They showed no signs of bullet wounds or external trauma, and evidence suggested they died suddenly, so officials initially considered their deaths suspicious.

Officials said a “perfect storm” of circumstances led the bears to consume the poisonous yew.

The family of bears was known to frequent urban areas, where yew typically grow, and the sweet tasting bush may have attracted the sow bear as she prepared for hibernation and at a time when other food sources were limited, game commission bear biologist Mark Ternent said.

“The denning and hibernation of the sow and her cubs were likely imminent and bear cubs will follow the lead of the sow when foraging for food,” Ternent said. “This unfortunate occurrence was extremely rare and one we hope will not be repeated.”....

The country that is most marked by slavery, though, is clearly India. There are an estimated 14 million slaves in India – it would be as if the entire population of Pennsylvania were forced into slavery. The country suffers deeply from all major forms of slavery, according to the report. Forced labor is common, due in part to a system of hereditary debt bondage; many Indian children are born "owing" sums they could never possibly pay to masters who control them as chattel their entire lives. Others fall into forced labor when they move to a different region looking for work, and turn to an unlicensed "broker" who promises work but delivers them into servitude.

The country's caste system and widespread discrimination abet social norms that make it easier to turn a blind eye to the problem. Women and girls from underprivileged classes are particularly vulnerable to sexual slavery, whether under the guise of "child marriages" or not, although men and boys often fall victim as well.

] In early 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch about his government's commitment to maintaining peace and religious harmony and said that his government will strongly act against acts of religious violence. Speaking at the celebration of the elevation to Sainthood of Father Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Sister Euphrasia, Modi said, "The tradition of welcoming all faiths in India is as old as India itself ... We believe that there is truth in every religion. This is critical for peace and harmony in the nation."[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Christian_violence_in_India

You greatly exaggerate.

From 1964 to 1996, at least 38 incidents of violence against Christians were reported. In 1997, 24 such incidents were reported. Since 1998, Christians in India have faced a wave of violence.[4] In 1998 alone, 90 incidents were reported.[1]

The Sangh Parivar and related organisations have stated that the violence is an expression of "spontaneous anger" of "vanvasis" against conversion activities undertaken by missionaries.[5]

“The central government has refused to speak out against the atrocities – thus further encouraging radical Hindus to step up their discrimination against Christians,” Curry added. “The government's tolerance--if not promotion--of discrimination against Christians has led to a marked rise in the number of people within India openly pushing for a completely Hindu India.”

The rash of outbreaks led humanitarian groups like the ICC to campaign in Washington to put pressure on Modi and the BDP to stop the wave of extreme nationalism.

“His silence is tacit approval,” King of the ICC said. “Push came to shove once before and he [Modi] had to come out and say that India is tolerant and the nationalists backed down.

“And the most of the populace is very tolerant, but he needs to come out again and rein in his party.”

Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said Amri's apparent ability to travel from Germany to Italy showed that the Schengen system - which allows border-free movement between 26 European states - is 'a risk to public safety' and should be scrapped.

'If the man shot in Milan is the Berlin killer, then the Schengen area is proven to be a risk to public safety,' said Mr Farage. 'It must go.'

Dying to know its ancestry but trust you will tell us all in your own good time…

Hope he is not a barker...

Doesn't appear to be a barker. Likely, soon will be as he follows our other dog around and does whatever she does. She barks. In fact, she barks simply for the pure joy of barking. Doesn't need a precipitate cause.

He is of the breed Pootersnoot, a rare breed now totally extinct. We consider him a rare find.

The Max Plank Institute has requested to be allowed to send a team of cryptozoologists to study him.

I had a Pootersnoot as a child. Wonderful companion. What makes them unusual and perhaps the reason for their extinction is the odd position of their.....well you would just have to see it to believe it.

Something odd and really wrong about his terribly elongated ring finger....about which he bragged here once....which he kept putting in his snoot....someone said, 'hell, that looks like a Pootersnoot making doggie'....and ever after the poor child was nicknamed 'Pootersnoot'....long before he finally changed it to "Q"

My problem with the before and after pics of all these older Hollywood folks is because they fuck around with themselves so much, I can't tell which is which, or which I am supposed to think looks better, or even if they are still humans.

My mom's pics simply show the arc of her life over the years.My wife looked much younger at 65 than my mom.Problem is, wife lived to be 66, mom 92.

ZoooommmTooling down the highway doing seventy-nineI'm a twin pipe papa and I'm feelin fineHey man dig that was that a red stop signTransfusion transfusionI'm just a solid mess of contusionsNever never never gonna speed againSlip the blood to me Bud

I jump in my rod about a quarter to nineI gotta make a date with that chick of mineI cross the center line man you gotta make timeTransfusion transfusionOh man I got the cotton pickin convolutionsNever never never gonna speed againShoot the juice to me Bruce

My foot's on the throttle and it's made of leadBut I'm a fast ridding daddy with a real cool headI'ma gonna pass a truck on the hill aheadTransfusion transfusionMy red corpsickles are in mass confusionNever never never gonna speed againPass the crimson to me Jimson

I took a little drink and I'm feelin rightI can fly right over everything everything in sightThere's a slow poking cat I'm gonna pass him on the rightTransfusion transfusionI'm a real gone paleface and that's no illusionI'ma never never never gonna speed againPass the claret to me Barrett

A rollin down the mountain on a rainy dayOh when you see me coming better start to prayI'ma cuttin up the road and I'm the boss all the wayTransfusion transfusionOh doc pardon me for this crazy intrusionI'm never never never gonna speed againPump the fluid in me Louie

I'm burning up the highway early this mornI'm passing everybody oh nothing but cornMan outta my way I don't drive with my hornTransfusion transfusionOh nurse I'm gonna make a new resolutionI'm never never never gonna speed againPut a gallon in me Alan

Oh barnyard drivers are found in two classesLine crowding hogs and speeding jackassesSo remember to slow down todayHey daddy-oMake that type O huhAtta-boy

I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;And her quick look, a sidelong pickerel smile;And how, once startled into talk, the light syllables leaped for her,And she balanced in the delight of her thought

A wren, happy, tail into the wind,Her song trembling the twigs and small branches.The shade sang with her;The leaves, their whispers turned to kissing,And the mould sang in the bleached valleys under the rose.

Oh, when she was sad, she cast herself down into such a pure depth,Even a father could not find her:Scraping her cheek against straw,Stirring the clearest water.

My sparrow, you are not here,Waiting like a fern, making a spiney shadow.The sides of wet stones cannot console me,Nor the moss, wound with the last light.

If only I could nudge you from this sleep,My maimed darling, my skittery pigeon.Over this damp grave I speak the words of my love:I, with no rights in this matter,Neither father nor lover.

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.